An intervertebral disc prosthesis of the generic type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,718 Lee. This known intervertebral disc prosthesis comprises a central core, that is so formed from a biocompatible elastomer, such that it is roughly equivalent to the nucleus pulpous of a natural intervertebral disc, as well as from a multi-layer laminate from fibres bound in an elastomer, arranged around the core. Each laminate layer has its own yarn system, so that a plurality of fibre groups are present. The fibres of the individual layers have various orientations, whereby the angles of the fibres relative to the central axis of the intervertebral disc are in the range of ±20° and ±50°, preferably 0°, +45° and −45°.
From WO 90/00374 Klaue a hip prosthesis is known, the shaft of which is made from a tubular mesh, i.e. a structure, that comprises at least two series of fibres crossing one another. In this application the interior of the tubular mesh remains empty as the shaft of the femur component.
In the case of the prosthesis disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,718 Lee, although the individual fibres are integrated in the laminate that is made from an elastomer or another type of synthetic material, their ends are, however, adhered only to the end plates, so that they do not surround the core and consequently, in the case of a radial expansion of the core, cannot accept any tensile force. When adhering the lateral walls, cut out from the fibrous matrix compound, to the end plate, a fixing of the integrated fibres on the end plate is quite difficult, only the cross-section of the fibre offers a contact surface for the chemical joint. Therefore increased stresses occur especially on these joining places of the fibres on the end plate.
Furthermore, in the case of Lee the length of the individual fibres is only from the bottom cover plate to the top cover plate, what corresponds to the sheathing height or a diagonal of the projected sheathing height. Thus the forces occurring can be reduced only along these lengths due to the transfer of the shearing force of the fibres to the elastomer. Thus positions of increased stresses result at the fixings, i.e. on the ends of the fibres.
The prosthesis disclosed in WO 90/00374 Klaue comprises a system of fibres, the individual fibres of which are not fixed on both ends, as well as there is no deformable core. Therefore in the case of an axial compression of the prosthesis the axial compression forces occurring cannot be transferred as tensile forces to the fibres.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,728 Stubstad et al. an intervertebral disc prosthesis is known, that has an elastomeric sandwich structure with a fibre system. A disadvantage of this known prosthesis is that the fibre system, joined with the cover plates, is either not embedded in the sheathing body or in another embodiment is embedded in a multi-layer laminate of an elastomer.